


Watch out, North Pole. Sokka and Zuko are coming.

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambassador Sokka (Avatar), M/M, Oblivious Zuko, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, oblivious sokka
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:16:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24965839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: When Azula plans to attack the Northern Water Tribe, Zuko and Sokka sail across the sea to stop her. Together.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 30





	Watch out, North Pole. Sokka and Zuko are coming.

Sokka is utterly elated. And has been, ever since the war had ended and he had become Ambassador Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, stand-in chief for political dealings with the Fire Nation. 

And speaking of the reforming country, Sokka has just arrived. From where he can see, sailing into port on his tiny water tribe trading barge, the streets seem anything but calm. There are vendors selling smoked fish and fire flakes, girls and boys playing with toys that Sokka has never seen before, and in the distance, firebending shows. Sokka smiles. Before, these had all been so alien. So fearful and angering.

Now it all just seemed nice.

But, however much Sokka yearned to indulge in such cultural pleasures - mostly the food - he has more important, more  _ responsible  _ things to partake in.

Like royal feasts with the Fire Lord. 

Who had been Sokka’s enemy, and then friend, and is now...something else. Sokka isn’t entirely sure what. 

He ignores that train of thought, in the Sokka logic-comes-first fashion, and begins the trek to the palace from the docks, flanked by only two of his water tribe warriors. Well, his dad’s.

Most of the people ignore him, more interesting things present in their minds. Some give him smiles and small head bows, which make Sokka feel important. He puffs his chest out like he did when he was little and caught a fish all by himself, nevermind that he was now eighteen.

The warriors surrounding him begin to chuckle at him, and Sokka frowns and deflates exaggeratedly. They only laugh harder.

Getting into the palace is always an ordeal, even though he has the seal of approval from Zuko on the specifically made parchment, and shows it to them before they can even speak. They still pat him and his warriors down, only allowing them one dagger each, which is so unfair that Sokka almost argues. Instead, reminds himself of his import and moral duties, and leaves it be.

Four guards lead them through the long stone hallways, all the way to a dining hall. It’s already filled with Fire Nation nobles, with Zuko at the head of the table, facing the doorway. He sees Sokka enter before anyone else.

Sokka smiles disbelievingly. It’s only been a year since the last time he’s seen the firebender, yet it seems like longer and shorter at the same time. 

Zuko doesn’t look any different in appearances. He has the same unnatural golden eyes and black hair, and his shoulders are still tense and ready. He  _ does,  _ however,  _ feel  _ different. Sokka feels the atmosphere shift when he walks in. Normally he doesn’t believe in things like that, but Zuko’s eyes don’t leave his while he is being seated, even while continuing a conversation with some Fire Nation duchess, or however that worked here.

Sokka wishes he could ask Zuko what’s wrong, but he couldn’t possibly do that, not from all the way across the table. Not while other people are present, people who Sokka hasn’t met, and quite frankly, doesn’t want to meet. 

“You must be from the Water Tribes!” Sokka turns his head to the left, past the warrior seated beside him and towards a rich looking man.

Sokka nods proudly. “In the flesh! You must be honored!”

The man stares at him blankly.

Sokka chuckles nervously, picking up a fork to tap it on the table. “Sorry.”

The man shakes his head, a small smile crawling onto his mouth. “It’s no trouble. Many of us are...attempting to reach out to people from other nations. I am Caption Lang.”

It’s then that Sokka realizes that these people must be military people and their families. It brings a whole new pressure to this conversation. “Ah! I’m Ambassador Sokka. My father is the chief of the Southern Water Tribes.”

The Caption nods his head contemplatively and turns back to the small dish in front of him. It’s something that looks prissy and worth a lot of money...and also too good to pass up. Sokka consumes his own at a pace that probably looks very rude. 

His gasp of pleasure is loud enough to turn heads when the cooks bring out two more courses.

The feast is filled with pleasant conversation, pleasant enough for Sokka to participate, as well as his two companions. But when he hears Zuko politely laugh at some General’s merry making, Sokka feels remarkably as if he’d rather be on that end of the table.

He is full of delight when Zuko stands up, glass in hand, to make a toast. From the straight look on his face, Sokka guesses he’s only doing it out of politeness and tradition, but Sokka has never witnessed his friend making any grandiose gestures, and is excited to see where he goes with it. 

Zuko looks at the crowd of nobles plus water tribe. Sokka frowns when the Fire Nation eyes glide over him. He takes a breath, and begins. “We’ve come a long way from being the perpetrators. We’ve taken steps to ensure that we will pay for our deeds during the war, and are making allies of the other nations.” He smiles shyly at Sokka. “We’ve even befriended the Avatar and his allies.”

Zuko pauses for a moment, brows furrowing in a search for words, and Sokka realizes that Zuko hasn’t prepared a speech.

“We must not forget that we suffered alongside every other nation. We must realize both our wrong doings,” he raises his glass, “and our right to feast and be happy.”

Sokka reaches for his glass, remembering the ‘toast’ part of the toast.

“To peace,” Zuko finishes, and there’s a chorus of the same words. Sokka repeats them boisterously, almost sloshing the liquid out of his cup and he clinks it with the warriors beside him.

The feast ends long after that, and Sokka wonders what toasts are for if not to signal the end of a dinner. And anyways, what kind of dinner has five courses? Sokka isn’t complaining, of course, he only finds it needless to have so much food in one sitting. 

Zuko is socially required to leave each attendant away with a ‘thanks for coming,’ and a ‘goodbye,’ much more eloquently worded though. Sokka waits for him.

While he waits, Sokka feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns to see Captain Lang, smiling sympathetically at him. “Good luck. I can’t imagine peace keeping between countries is easy.”

Sokka smiles arrogantly. “No, it’s  _ pretty  _ hard.”

The Captain raises an eyebrow, but turns to leave without another word, following another military rank and his wife.

Sokka suddenly remembers he didn’t arrive alone. He turns sheepishly to his warriors, who have crossed their arms and are surveying him amusedly. “Heheh. I’ll probably need to talk to the Fire Lord alone...so you guys can leave!”

They give each other a look, and Sokka frowns. “If you say so...ambassador.”

Sokka scowls at the chuckles the warriors emit as they saunter from the room. He’s proved himself a good warrior...to himself. Katara and his father still view him as irresponsible, and the warriors placed under his command doubt him enough to second guess his orders. They mock the title of ambassador as a less than important role...but Sokka tries not to let it get to him. 

To be fair, Sokka isn’t the  _ best  _ warrior in the tribe.

Instead of wallowing in his failures, Sokka turns to watch the last person leave the room. He waits until the guards close the door before wheeling on Zuko and pouncing on him.

Vaguely, he hears Zuko make a sound of annoyance, but Sokka’s much more focused on giving his best friend a clap on the back. He pulls back to grin at Zuko, who scowls. Sokka laughs when he notices the hair piece that knocked out of place.

“Ambassador Sokka.”

“Fire Lord Zuko.”

Zuko reaches up to fix the golden metal, but there’s a smile creeping onto his face that makes Sokka proud of himself for causing it. It’s like when Sokka brings Aang those cakes that remind him so much of Monk Gyatso, but much more rare and treasured. 

There’s a moment of silence that is characteristic to Zuko, before he speaks. “Are you enjoying - this?”

It takes Sokka a moment to realize what Zuko is referencing. “The feast was great,” he jokes.

Zuko rolled his eyes. “I meant the position.”

“This position?” Sokka strikes a pose, crossing his arms above his head as if he was a subject in a painting. He laughs at the red tint in Zuko’s face. He decided to have mercy. “I like it. I get to travel  _ and  _ kick butts!”

Zuko smiles. “Good.”

With that, Zuko strides from the room. Sokka keeps up easily. He’s gained an inch or two on Zuko since they were enemies. “Where’re we going?’

“Somewhere private.” 

Sokka doesn’t know where it can be more private than a room that already had no people in it. 

Sokka likes that some of the palace halls weave outside, like long pavilions. He likes the warm sun that shows itself in the Fire Nation, so unlike the sun that shows in the south. He wishes he knew how the same sun could feel so different in two different places. Maybe that’s why the firebenders had rooted here in the first place, for the same reason the waterbenders did in the poles.

Neither of the duo speak as they walk through the halls, but Sokka itches too. He wants to ask what’s so  _ terribly  _ wrong that they needed a  _ seperate room all the way across the palace  _ to speak about it!

Eventually, they reach a small entryway, with a door so unassuming it could have passed as a janitor's closet. Zuko pushes him inside, and Sokka growls in frustration.

“Okay, what’s going on?”

As soon as the door is shut, Zuko's face falls into one of stress and guilt and anger, something Sokka hasn’t seen since Zuko was chasing them across the world. “Azula escaped.”

Sokka’s mouth falls open, but he can’t find anything to say. Azula had been locked in the deepest, darkest cell there was, away from any sun source and anyone who might help her. How had she escaped?”

“How did she escape?”

Zuko shrugged. “I don’t know, she just wasn’t there! And it’s - I know it’s my fault, but I didn’t want to start my rule the way my father ruled...I didn’t want to kill her.”

Zuko’s voice is calculatingly measured, not too fast and not too slow, but Sokka can hear the desperation in his voice, as if he’s pleading for Sokka to understand that he didn’t do it on purpose.

Sokka nods slowly. “I get that.” There’s a moment of silence while Sokka tries to find what to say next. “Do you know what she’s doing?”

Zuko tugs and the ends of his hair, as if he wants to run his hands through it but can’t because of the style. “We’ve had reports of Azula and Ozai’s loyalists heading North. We’ve questioned a few, and they all say they’re planning to ambush the Northern Water Tribe.”

Sokka’s stomach drops dangerously. “That’s why you called me,” he mumbled. 

Zuko nods, eyes darting away from Sokka.

Sokka nods again. He can’t process this. “Okay. Uh, two questions. One, why are they going there? And two, what are we going to do about it?”

Zuko looks back up at him, steeling his face as he answers. “Uh, well, we’re not sure why but...to make such a bold move, it must be important. That’s why I’m planning on taking a fleet over to stop it.”

Sokka starts at the second answer. “You can’t take a whole fleet! They’ll be spotted too quickly, you need stealth!”

Zuko raises his hand to his face and rubs beneath his good eye in annoyance. “None of the navy’s ships are meant for stealth!”

“You can take my ship, I’ll go with you! No one will think twice about the Water Tribes trading to each other!” 

Zuko’s eyes light up with realization.

Maybe Sokka shouldn’t have offered.

~ ~ ~

Sokka definitely shouldn’t have offered. 

“Why would you do that?”

“This is a trading barge, not a war ship!”

“There’s no way this ship can take a firebender assault!”

Sokka growls at the complaints throwing themselves at him. His minimal amount of crew members  _ apparently  _ had problems with hosting the Fire Lord. How could he have known this would be a problem?

“C’mon guys, this is our sister tribe we’re talking about! We can’t just let them get taken when we know of the plan!” Sokka beckons wildly with his arms, ignoring the Fire nation soldier pushing past with supplies to put in the barge. 

One warrior sighs and frowns down at Sokka. “Sokka, we’re not saying we shouldn’t help. But the best thing to do is go back and get some better ships, some weapons,  _ something!  _ You’re father co-”

Sokka feels something hot flood down from his face into his back. “NO!  _ I  _ am in charge of this ship, and I say we need to go now!”

He scowls at the surprised expressions on the crew's faces, and the guilt set in. He heaves a sigh so hard he thinks he feels his lungs collapse. “I’m sorry. But we  _ can’t  _ risk letting the window of opportunity close to get better ships. This is a  _ coup,  _ they could strike at any time!”

The warrior nods slowly with begrudging understanding. He then shakes his head and shrugs. “FIne.”

The crew slowly began making preparations. Sokka sighs and lifts his head to the sky.

“See something up there?”

Sokka turns to see Zuko, adorned in armor and carrying a couple scrolls in his arms. There’s a smile on his face, and Sokka is momentarily frustrated that his problems aren’t reflected on Zuko.

“Just clouds. Gotta - y’know, check the...stars.”

Zuko raises an eyebrow. “Huh. I guess it would be a problem if the stars were showing up during the day.”

Sokka laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his head. “C’mon. We can talk in my quarters.”

Zuko follows him across the deck, past the waterbenders and firebenders alike, and Sokka realizes he’s never seen the two nationalities working on the same ship. Suddenly, he feels pressured. This is a precedent that he’s setting - an example of how the crew should conduct themselves under diversity. 

Sokka really should have thought this through.

Sokka’s quarters are small and messy, probably nothing like what Zuko’s would look like. Maps and letters and plans cover his desk, and his cot is shoved in the corner in a way that makes it look more like a spare for the crew than his own. There’s a trunk under his desk which holds his clothes, but the lock is rusty because Sokka has no regard for personal hygiene.

Zuko doesn’t mention any of this. Instead, he sits on the floor, criss cross as if he isn’t the Fire Lord. He pulls out the first paper and lays it across the floor. It’s a map, with red labelled lines marked all over it.

“You should probably know that I’ve left my Uncle in charge at my leave, and that my soldiers are loading food and rope and catapults onto your ship.”

Sokka waves his hand dismissively. “Thanks for telling me, but I couldn’t care less.”

Zuko vaguely smiles. 

Sokka pauses for a second and then breaks the news. “ _ I  _ should probably tell  _ you  _ that my warriors aren’t very happy with this.”

“Mine aren’t either.”

Sokka smiles wearily, and is met with Zuko’s sharp gaze.

Well, at least he had a friend to help him.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me if typos are spotted. Also, this is my first ATLA fanfiction, so I'm quite excited!


End file.
